Catalepsy
by death by storm
Summary: L is thrown into a cataleptic state for ten years to make up for his insomnia. Who won in the end Kira or Mello and Near? Be gentle! It's my first death note fanfiction!


Catalepsy

So here's the deal, I looked back on this story earlier this week and decided that it really didn't work that well and that I had left a lot of questions unanswered. Because of this, I wrote a bit more and filled in all of the illogical stuff that I could find.

Spoilers for chapter 58 and beyond but AU if that makes any sense... This is my first attempt at death note fanfiction and I tried to keep the characters like they are supposed to be in the manga. I tried my best to do it justice so enjoy.

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own death note.

"Everyone, the shiniga - ..." Ryuzaki lost his voice. The spoon in his hand trembled as his fingers became lax. It fell to the floor shortly followed by his own body. He felt his body hit the floor as if in a dream. He saw Raito rush over to him through a haze of pain and exhaustion. _Kira,_ he thought reaching up and grabbing Raito's arms with the last of his strength. _So I lose after all_. Kira hung over him. with a smirk visible even in his fading world. His smirk warped his handsome features into something animal like and inhuman. He saw the proclamation of victory in the other's eyes. Despite that, Ryuzaki felt at peace, dying like this. It seemed fitting that the only person that he allowed to get close to him in any way, to be his first ever friend, would be the one to cause his downfall.

Ryuzaki's eyes slid closed, he felt his grip weaken. He...died.

10 years later...

The first thing that Ryuzaki was aware of was the cold stone slab that he was lying on. He couldn't move or even shiver at the chill that possessed his body, but he knew where he was. _The mausoleum! _Was this some cruel joke? Was he really alive?The mausoleum was the building that was the resting place for all of the ones who took on the alias L after death. The bodies were prepared privately but were not embalmed before they were set in this place. There had been times when the person who held the position of 'L' had to fake his own death for one reason or another. Ryuzaki couldn't have been more grateful of that at the moment. Without those private measures, he would have been truly dead and not just in a cataleptic state for however long.

Looking back on his lifestyle, Ryuzaki wasn't really surprised about this occurrence. He had actually estimated a few years before Kira came about the possibility of something like this happening. The probability of him falling into a cataleptic coma had been around fifteen percent. (1) That was extremely high for a single person. Even with the likeliness of something like this happening, he had refused to give up his sweets. _I hope that Mello and Near have vanquished Kira... _They had been rather young at the time of his 'death' but there was a seventy – five percent possibility that Kira had taken over the position of 'L'. Chances were, the battle that had carried on between the three had been played out already. Ryuzaki's fingers twitched. The detectives lips quirked. He still wasn't breathing though. Ryuzaki couldn't help but feel curious about what had happened. His internal clock told him that it had been a very long time indeed.

All at once his chest bucked and he gasped in a large breath as all of his systems began to function once more. Ryuzaki lay there for a moment recovering before sitting up. He was as dirty as a toy that had been left in an abandoned warehouse. The grime was stiff and itchy on his skin. His nose twitched at the dust and he sneezed violently. He was pretty sure that he smelled like death too.

He slid off of the marble stone and touched his feet to the floor. Immediately, his knees buckled, unused to supporting his weight anymore. Ryuzaki sat there for a moment and rubbed legs willing them to work. He staggered to his feet and stumbled over to the door in the dark, the sound of his padding feet echoing softly in the mausoleum. He saw a crack of light coming from the door. Ryuzaki slid his slender fingers along the rough crack with delight. He pulled against the heavy door. It had come recently ajar. His head jerked up as a red light blinked and noticed that there was a camera attached to the top corner of the door. The track of the door was fresh and he noticed that the padlock was unlocked. The door slid open and sunlight scorched his eyes.

Ryuzaki grimaced and leaned against the door waiting for his eyes to adjust. Some strength was returning now. He gazed across the well – tended gardens and noticed a familiar figure sitting on the bench. Raito got up and walked towards him. It seemed that his idea that a long time had passed since his unfortunate 'death', was correct. He held a water bottle in his hand. Without a word, he handed it to Ryuzaki.

It was only then that he realized how thirsty he was. His mouth was dry to the point where he couldn't even swallow. Ryuzaki took the cap off and drained the whole thing and then pulled a slight face at the lack of sugar when the cool water splashed down his throat. Now that he actually thought about it, he was pretty hungry too.

"It took you long enough," Kira said quietly. "When I opened that tomb last month for the first time in ten years, I'd have to admit that I was rather surprised about your body's state of decomposition. I couldn't figure out if it was the amount of sweets you eat that preserved you, or if your lack of sleep had just caught up with you."

"It was a cataleptic state, Kira," Ryuzaki replied quietly ignoring the jibe. His voice was still a little hoarse from disuse. "What motivated you to open the tomb Yagami-kun?"

"I was curious," came the admission. "I'd wanted to visit your actual body for a while but I just didn't get the chance to. Call it morbid curiosity if you will."

"Personally, I was really curious about how that had happened," Raito continued.

"Did you come up with an answer Yagami-kun?" L asked curious despite himself.

"Yes, I did," came the reply. "Apparently, Rem wrote down your name too late. Her influence over her notebook had weakened to the point where all that her writing your name down only knocked your body into a sort of stasis."

_That explains why I was able to walk so soon,_ Ryuzaki thought _Otherwise I would probably not have made it out the door. _Even though he knew that his original idea about his state was both illogical and incorrect, he couldn't help but feel a little annoyed that Raito had found out the answer. The feeling of that also was illogical.

"So, do you rule the world yet?" he asked.

"Kira is pretty much universally accepted as law, but they don't know that I am him," Raito replied.

"A pity, I'm sure," came the reply. Inwardly Ryuzaki thought that Raito had not changed in the least. He still seemed to love hearing his own voice. He briefly thought back to the cafe that he had tried to get Kira to slip up with the notes and the list of the FBI agents. "So are you going to kill me, Kira?"

"Why would I do that?" Raito asked bemused drawing closer. "I won and there is nothing that you can do about it now. I have never killed anyone for speaking out against my ways. People are allowed to think for themselves. It doesn't matter anyway because one does anymore. While you do not agree with my form of justice, you also must realize that I'm considered the epitome of it now. I haven't had someone to converse with on my intellectual level for a very long time now, Lawliet."

"If what you say is true, Raito – kun, Kira," Ryuzaki said quietly. "I am not surprised."

This time, it was Raito's turn to ignore the jibe. He let out a heavy sigh and took Ryuzaki's wrist. "Come on, you need a shower and a change of clothes. I have everything ready."

"Don't you think that I know that?" Ryuzaki replied dryly. Though he knew the answer, he asked anyway. "What happened to Mello and Near?"

"Mello and Near?" Raito said slowly. "They're dead. Neither were by my hands though."

"The hands of your followers then Raito-kun?" Ryuzaki asked dryly. He felt only regretful about their deaths.

Raito sensed the accusation in the other's voice. "Like with you, I had no choice. They stood in the way of a crime – free world. Crime is almost non-existent now. I only have to kill someone every other week."

Ryuzaki almost opened his mouth to protest but quickly remembered that Raito had won. He may be a sore loser, but he wasn't about to go against Raito.

Once again, Kira looked at him. "I told you that I don't mind people speaking out against me, Ryuzaki as long as they don't harm others. I know you think that the way world peace occurred was not what you wanted, but I have saved more lives than I have destroyed."

Logically, Ryuzaki knew it was true and that it would come to that if Kira had ever won. Somehow though, he still thought that killing people was the wrong way to do it. "I still think that you went about the wrong way to do it, Raito-kun."

(1)For those of you who don't know, a cataleptic state is a type of hyper coma almost. Though the subject is alive and most times conscious of what is occurring around them, they can't move. Any life signs are too subtle for even the most modern machines to pick up. They don't breath, the heartbeat is extremely weak and brainwave patterns are non – existent. This did happen extensively through the Middle Ages when the fear of vampires was rampant. People who were strongly convinced that they were vampires often would inadvertently fall into a cataleptic state during the day and wake up at night. Though I have never heard of it happening for ten years at a time and highly doubt that it could, thus the explanation of Rem's dimming influence over her notebook, I just thought that it was an amusing idea.

Please review and be gentle! This is my first death note fanfiction! Ja Ne!


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